Potions Exam Problems
by yaoi-is-wowie21
Summary: DISCONTINUED. For an end of the 6th year Potions exam, students must pair up and concoct a specific potion. But when the students don’t get to pick their own partners, tempers flare, and a few people learn something new about themselves. Draco x Ron
1. It Is DISLIKED

**Disclaimer: Erkgperk. Haha, I made up a new word. >coughs any who, I don't own nothing. Got it?**

**Summary: For an end of the 6th year Potions exam, students must pair up and concoct a specific potion. But when the students don't get to pick their own partners, tempers flare, and a few people learn something new about themselves. DracoXRon so far.**

**My first Malfoy/Weasley story. I was thinking about doing Draco/Bill, out of randomness, but couldn't think of a plot. So this one works just fine. Ooh, and it has a plot too! Egadsoo! Mwaha, another new word! Me and a friend were pairing up ppl like crazy while watching the 3rd HP DVD, and then I complied them onto a list and pick them at random when I feel like writing. It's not that easy though. How that hell can you have a plot for a threesome like Harry/Lucius/Severus? Actually.....................hm.........**

**Chapter One:**

**It Is DISLIKED**

"I can't believe you two!" Hermione muttered to Harry and Ron as they headed down to the dungeons. "Outside playing Quidditch while we should be studying for the final exams!"

"Haven't you learned yet, 'Mione? We never do our work until it's too late," Harry yawned, shifting his bag to his other shoulder. "Besides, we always manage to get good grades, right Ron?"

"Yeah," answered Ron, shaking his head. "You just won't give up though, Hermione, will you?"

"But you could get better grades if you just studied! How about—"

"Forget it! Besides, our Potions exam is right now. Won't do us any good to study, now will it?" Ron interrupted her.

Hermione sighed, giving up for the moment. "Alright, alright. I'll be quiet."

"Thank you."

Hermione glared a Ron, then angrily made her way to her seat in the classroom.

"What's her problem?" Ron grumbled, sitting down next to Harry. Harry shrugged.

"Maybe that you were being so rude? You know, Ron, if you want to ask her out, you're going to have to be a bit nicer," he replied.

"Nicer? Nicer?! I am nicer, thank you very much."

Harry rolled his eyes.

"Settle down now, class," Professor Snape said coolly, tapping his wand on his desk . "As I hope you are all well aware, today is your Potions final. For this year's exam, I thought we would, do something a little different."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. Since when would Snape do something different?

"This examination will last over a period of two weeks, since that's how long it will probably take to make your potions. I will partner you up randomly and assign each group a different potion. How well the potion is made and how well you cooperate will determine your final grade."

"What if we get someone we don't work well with?!" Seamus asked loudly, glancing over at the Slytherin side of the room.

Snape glared at the Gryffindor. "I suggest you get used to working with them. Unfortunately for you, Dumbledore has decided that it was time to start urging cooperation between houses. So you should be looking forward to a whole lot of inter-house 'bonding'."

A chorus of groans were heard from both sides of the room.

"Complain all you like, it won't change a thing," Snape said, taking out his wand and a roll of parchment. "Alright. This list has all of your names on it. I'll rearrange them randomly, so no one can accuse me of showing favoritism." He tapped the list with his wand. It glowed for a moment as the words put themselves in a different order. When it stopped, Snape set down his wand and picked up the list.

"When I call your names, move so you're seated next to them," Snape instructed them. "Then I'll distribute the objectives of the exam to each pair. Now, Patil and Thomas."

Parvati and Dean both let out a sigh of relief not to be working with a Slytherin and scooted their stuff around so they were sitting next to each other.

"Crabbe and....Goyle," Snape faltered a bit as he read the names, no doubt worrying if anything they made by themselves would be dangerous or not. The two boys looked at each other and grinned, obviously not aware that the two of them were going to have a very hard time passing. Malfoy rolled his eyes.

"Longbottom and Potter," continued Snape, and Harry didn't know whether to be happy that he wasn't with a Slytherin or uncheerful to be with Neville. Either way, he picked up his stuff and he and Hermione swapped seats so that he was next to Neville.

"Granger and Zabini," Snape read, and his eyes narrowed. The first Slytherin/Gryffindor pairing. Harry and Ron gave Hermione a sympathetic look as she moved over next to the usually quiet Slytherin boy.

"Finnigan and Bulstrode."

Seamus paled immensely as he heard Millicent Bulstrode's name. Ron patted him on the back sympathetically as he slunk over to the Slytherin side of the room. Dean snickered and Seamus glowered at him.

"Parkinson and Brown."

Lavender looked like she was going to run away, either from fear or because she was going to cry. She glared angrily at Snape as she passed his desk. Pansy didn't look so happy either.

"And finally, Weasley and Malfoy." Snape smirked as he read this aloud.

"What!?!" Ron jumped up, protesting. "I—You can't put him with me!"

"I can and I will, Weasley. Five points from Gryffindor for arguing with me," Snape replied icily. "Besides, now you might be able to get a passing grade without Miss Granger's help."

"Better go sit down, mate," Dean muttered to Ron, who looked like he still wanted to debate with the professor.

Ron, angry and red faced, stormed over to Draco's desk and dropped his bag noisily onto it. "What a fine way to end the year........" he growled.

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**.......Is Blaise a boy or a girl? I've always been so confused........oh well. For the purpose of this fic, 'it' shall be a boy. Also.......is Millicent Bulstrode in their year? I don't think so......oh well again. She is now. Haha.**

**Woohoo. A short chapter. That's probably what this story will be, a short-chaptered one, the ones I'm so good at. The ones where the A/Ns are longer than the actual chapter. Lol**


	2. It Is ACCORDING

**Disclaimer:**

**Ladeedadeeda. grins Guess what? I'm writing in the same day as I wrote the first chapter! That never happens. I must be on a lucky streak or sumthing. Erg. I just finished enlarging a 2X2 inch square of a road map into a 8X8 square. By hand. With color and everything. What did that even have to do with science? Jesus.......But it was a map of Alabama. That was cool.**

**Chapter Two:**

**It Is ACCORDING**

"I can't believe it!" Ron shouted. "Imagine, spending two weeks with Malfoy just to pass Potions!"

"It's only for a little bit, Ron," Hermione attempted to consol him. "And it's not like they're making you live together or anything."

"You're just saying that because YOU don't have to work with him! I tell you, it's like a nightmare come true," Ron shuddered.

"Cheer up, Ron," Harry said, patting him on the shoulder. "At least you won't fail. Snape wouldn't fail his favorite student just to get at you."

"Yeah, I suppose your right.....Maybe I can get Malfoy to do all the work," Ron reasoned. "This is a really complex spell. He gave us that wolfsbane potion."

"But that's really complicated!" Hermione gasped. "Does he think you can really do that?"

"Did she just insult me?" Ron whispered to Harry.

Harry nodded. "I think......."

"Ron," Hermione sighed. "I just meant that it seems really difficult for _anyone_ in the 6th year."

"Except you, of course," Harry muttered.

"Or maybe Blaise," Hermione added.

"Zabini? If he's so smart, why doesn't he ever participate in class like you do?"

"Well, he's probably just really shy. But he seemed really into this project."

"Yeah, he's just happy that he's partnered with the super genius of Hogwarts for exams," Ron mumbled.

"Ron, I don't really think I'm any 'super genius'," Hermione frowned.

"Come on Hermione," Harry scoffed. "You're by far the smartest person here. You and Zabini will pass this exam with ease."

"Speaking of the exam, Ron, what did Malfoy say about you two being partners?" Hermione asked as they came to the door to the Great Hall for lunch.

"He insulted me as usual and told me I better not fail him," Ron replied. "Only in a meaner, more complicated way."

"I feel your pain," Harry said, patting him on the shoulder. "Imagine, two weeks of working with Malfoy for some stupid grade."

"Yeah. That's what I said."

-------------------------------------

"I can't believe it!" Draco spat. "Imagine, spending two weeks with Weasley just to pass Potions! What was Snape thinking?!"

Goyle shrugged a shoulder, not really paying attention. There was food on the table and now was the time to eat it.

"I feel sorry for you, Draco," Pansy said melancholily.

"Well don't," Draco snapped, glaring at her. "I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me."

"Alright, jeez. Don't get all touchy about it," Pansy scowled, turning back to her plate.

"I suppose you're going to start gloating now, Zabini," Draco muttered as the other Slytherin sat down. Blaise looked over at him.

"No. Why would I?" he asked.

"You're with Granger. Everyone knows she wouldn't fail a class just to make a Slytherin mad. You're guaranteed an amazing grade," Draco explained.

"What about you? You always get good grades in Potions," Blaise said, trying to make his friend feel better.

Draco snorted. "Hmph. I can thank my father for that. He's always butting into things that he doesn't think I can handle." He paused and took a sip of pumpkin juice.

Blaise sat there, thinking. "Why don't you tell him to let you try and get good grades on your own?" he said after a while.

"Ha! Bargain with my father. Right," Draco grinned, as if Blaise had just said the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"It was worth a shot," Blaise shrugged. "So, are you going to start on your potion right away? Which one did you get? Some of them need the full two weeks to be made."

"The Wolfsbane potion," Draco answered flatly.

"Yikes! Jeez, isn't that sorta complicated?"

Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Not for you, I meant for anyone in particular. Especially since you have Weasley as a partner."

"Please don't let me get started on that again."

"Oh, sorry." Blaise fiddled with the food on his plate. "Well, I'm going to go ask Hermione if she wants to get together later to plan out our stuff. Bye." He got up and headed over to the Gryffindor table.

"You go for it," Draco answered sarcastically.

-------------------------------------

"Hey Hermione, look who's coming to see you," Harry teased her. "It's you're boyfriend."

"Harry!" Hermione slapped his arm. "Don't go starting any rumors about this!"

"Yeah, yeah," Harry muttered, grinning. Ron was glowering at him. "Chill out guys, kay?"

"Hermione?" Blaise said tentatively as he approached. "May I speak with you for a moment?"

"Sure, Blaise," Hermione replied, turning to face him. "Is it about the Reddere potion?"

"Yes," Blaise answered. "I was wondering if you wanted to meet in the library later to plan it out, since some of the ingredients will need some time to prepare."

"Of course," Hermione smiled, ignoring the angry looks from Ron. "Is 6:00 okay?"

"No problem," Blaise agreed. He nodded his head in a sort of bow. "Thanks. Talk to you later."

"Later." He waved and went back to the Slytherin table.

"See Ron, how hard was that? Slytherin's aren't all bad," Hermione sighed, going back to her lunch.

"Yeah, but you're not working with Malfoy, Hermione!" Ron spluttered.

"Neither are you. You're being very uncooperative, Ron," Harry smirked. "Do you want your grade to go down because you two weren't being all buddy-buddy?"

"I will NOT be 'buddy-bu—"

"Buddy-buddy with whom, Weasley?" a voice interrupted Ron.

Ron glared at the newcomer. "What do you want, Malfoy?"

"Hmph. Just the same thing as Blaise. Our potion is going to probably take the full two weeks to make. I would like to get this over with," Malfoy responded, ignoring the spiteful tone of Ron's voice.

"Fine with me," Ron snapped. "Library then? Six?"

"If you say so, Weasley," Malfoy said indifferently. He glared at Harry and Hermione and sauntered back over to his table.

"Arg! I'm going to kill him before this week is over!"

"Chill out, Ron," Harry said. "Or, at least wait til the potion's done before you kill him."

"Will do, then. If I can stand him that long."

Over at the other side of the hall...........

"Arg!" Draco muttered to Blaise. "I am going to kill him before this week is over!"

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**Reddere is Latin for 'to give back, return'. So, Hermione and Blaise are making a potion to........find things and return them? Whatever. Who cares about my creativity? Just live with it.**

**I wonder why I'm writing this..........In reality, I hate Ron's guts. He should die. I don't know why. He just should. Sorry if that offends anyone, but yeah......Actually, in the movie he's okay. But just the image of him I get from the book.............ergk. I'm peculiar, to put it nicely.**

**In my world, Draco and Blaise are friends. That's just the way it is. Got it?!? He ditched Crabbe and Goyle and got cooler friends**.

**THANK YOUS!:**

**animegirl9001 - confuzzledness is good!  
viu - thank you. I like to be interesting. And usually not in a good way. lol  
Fanny - Thanks for the info. So glad u like the story  
sammy-mackie - look! I updated! That's really rare for me ;;  
I Heart DM 11 - huggles reviews are so nice! I must admit, Draco/Ron is not on my top slash favs list, but i'm starting to like it a little bit more.....**


	3. It Is REQUIRING

**Disclaimer: Do I own any of this? I'll give you twenty guess......and the first 19 don't count. Whoops. I was rereading this, and I saw that I wrote the word 'disclaimer' on the last chapter, then never wrote anything else. Oh well. **

**Guten tag and konnichiwa. Again. Well, how bad is it so far? Horrible? I'd say so. .....How DO you make a Wolfsbane potion? Hm, I should look that up....... Neh. This is sorta a boring chapter. But I needed something to lead into the next one. **

**Chapter Three:**

**It Is REQUIRING**

"Hermione, I don't wanna go," Ron whined later that night up in the Gryffindor common room.

"Geez, Ron! It's not like you're getting married or anything!" Hermione threw up her hands, giving in to Ron's constant complaints. "Just go down with me, get your potion all set up, and leave!"

"And while you're at it, see if you can get Malfoy to do all the work," Harry added, watching the scene from his seat on the couch.

"Harry!" Hermione said disapprovingly.

"You know, that's not such a bad idea...... Maybe we won't have to do anything, Snape wouldn't fail his precious Slytherin students............" Ron mused.

"You know that wouldn't work," Hermione rolled her eyes. "Anyway, come on. It's almost six."

"Shouldn't we be like, fashionably late or something?"

Hermione's eyes narrowed. She stomped over to Ron, grasped his wrist, and started pulling him to the tower exit. "Good night, Harry. See you later."

Harry could only watch in sympathy as Ron was dragged from the room. "Have fun you two."

-------------------------------------

"Oh look, it's six o'clock. They're not here yet. Let's leave."

"Draco, your watch is three minutes fast," Blaise said, exasperated. "Give 'em a few minutes."

"But — "

"I am not going to argue with you any more. Besides, it's not like you're getting married! One, lousy, Potions grade. That's all it is."

"A lousy Potions grade, that's for sure, what with Weasley as my partner," Draco complained.

"Hey, it's not like I'm going to have any fun, either," Ron interrupted them. Draco and Blaise turned around to find a very annoyed looking Ron and an even more agitated looking Hermione. Blaise greeted the two with a small smile.

"Hermione. Glad you could come. Shall we get started researching? I've already pulled out some books," he said.

"Of course," Hermione replied. "Ron, make sure you actually get some work done, and not just insult each other the whole time. Remember, we still have Charms to review for tomorrow."

"Yeah, whatever," Ron growled. He reluctantly went over to Malfoy. "So? Where do you wanna start?"

"Research, maybe?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on. Tell me you know what a Wolfsbane potion is."

"I know what it _is_, Weasley. Have you ever _made_ one before?"

"Well, er, no."

"Precisely. So, get cracking." Draco pointed to a pile of books on the table next to them.

"What? By myself?"

"No, with the mermaids in the lake. Of course not, you moron. I'm not going to fail just to lower myself to your usual standards."

Ron swallowed down a comeback, remembering Hermione's words. "Alright then. Better get started." He took a deep breath to calm himself and picked up one of the books.

-------------------------------------

"Have they stopped yelling at each other?" Hermione asked, peering around the bookshelf.

"I'm sure they're fine," Blaise assured her. "If we hear any shrieks of pain, we'll check on them. If not......then they're probably still alive."

"I suppose." She sat back down and picked up a book, flipping it open to the correct page. "Let's see. So, a Reddere Potion. This is used to return lost things to their owner. Depending on who is using it and how well it is made will effect the outcome. If something really dear to the person is lost, it will take a _really_ good potion to get it back." She paused. "So, if someone loses their car keys, they can just use a really crappy Reddere Potion to find them?"

".......maybe. But I don't think someone would use it to find lost car keys. Probably more like treasured possessions or heirlooms," Blaise replied thoughtfully.

"So, how is Professor Snape going to grade it? He's going to use it himself? What on earth would he get back?"

"Hair de-greaser?" Blaise laughed. "No, he'll probably just check and see if it brings back something like his car keys."

"Imagine, Snape driving a car. I wonder what his choice would be......."

"A Ferrari?"

Hermione snorted. "Oh my God, I can see it now..........."

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"Are you done reading that yet?" Draco drawled. "It's been like, forever."

"No it hasn't, it's only been five minutes," Ron snapped. "Just because you read fast doesn't mean the whole world does too."

"Whatever you say. So, did you learn anything?"

"Yeah, that you're an annoying, nasty git," Ron muttered under his breath.

"Excuse me?"

"Um, yeah. We need, mainly, some wolfsbane, beatles' eyes, dried lizard scales, newt eggs, thyme, a bit of unicorn hair, and a pickled hedgehog heart. Ew. No wonder it tastes so nasty."

Draco nodded. "So. What needs to be prepared ahead of time?"

"Erm, the wolfsbane has to be picked exactly two days before put into the potion. And we need the exact number of lizard scales. And the newt eggs must be left out for at least a week and a half. The rest we can do as we make the potion. Then it needs to sit for a day."

"So it needs to be made a day before it's due. Hm......the first thing is the eggs. We should get those in Diagon Alley tomorrow. Along with everything else, but they need to be prepared first."

"What? Diagon Alley?"

"Are you really that thick? After the Charms exams we get to go to Diagon Alley to get supplies for our Potions."

"Really. I never heard that."

"It was on the house notice boards, you idiot. Don't you ever read those?"

"........No."

"Tch. Anyway, we also need to know where to find some wolfsbane so we can pick it two days before we make the potion."

"I can ask Hagrid about it. He probably knows."

Draco's eye twitched at the mention of the groundskeeper, but refrained from saying anything. "Fine. I suppose we can meet up tomorrow to buy the ingredients. I'll have to buy everything myself, won't I?"

Ron flushed heavily. "Of course not! I'm not that poor, I can buy some stuff!" he replied angrily.

"We'll see.........anyway, it's already been half an hour, and I need to study. Good evening," Draco bid Ron farewell and was out of the library in a flash.

"Good evening indeed," Ron muttered, arms crossed against his chest. "Ugh."

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**Blaise is like a male Slytherin Hermione. Lol. I'm so proud of myself. I made up a potion! All by myself. Now only if it had anything to do with the story.......... Oh, and I was too lazy to see if there's an official way to make a Wolfsbane Potion, so I made it up. I just think there's some wolfsbane in it. Duh.**

**THANK YOUS!:**

**kittyofwonder: don't worry, ur not pyscho! lol. and yes, hermione/ron IS one of the worst pairings. i mean, how obvious would that be? It'd be no fun!  
Person Lady:Thank you. Usually i tend to write a lot of OOC stuff, but nowI'm trying to be more in character. It's odd. Oh, and Blaise Zabini is a Slytherin in Harry's year who they never really mention in the books  
C.B.: So glad you like it! Yes, my attention span is very short too.don't worry. lol  
Zara Blackheart: Yeah! More reviews! Thanks so much. I really didn't thinkthis story would be sointeresting. **

**IfI forgot anyone, pls tell me, kay?**


	4. It Is AWKWARD

**Disclaimer: Wo0tness! The sixth HP books comes out in the summer! And it's not written by me! Take a hint. Lol**

**Man, this story is really rolling. Okay, not really. It'll probably take like, five more chapters to get to the lovey-dovey part. Though, I'm not exactly sure I know how to make that happen........ teary-eyed I'm sorry everyone! I know how much you want to get to the good part! I'm just no good at these things! **

**Oh yeah. And there's a train station at Diagon Alley, kay? Because I say so!**

**Chapter Four:**

**It Is AWKWARD**

The next day found Ron looking very surly at the prospect of spending time with Malfoy at Diagon Alley. And he didn't bother to hid his irritation.

"Can't he just get the stuff himself?" Ron said, as Hermione and Harry were getting ready to get on the train. "I mean, what if someone sees us?"

"Ron, what are they going to believe is more likely? You and Malfoy buying Potions ingredients for a class, or the two of you picking out curtains for your new house?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ew, Harry, don't even say things like that," Ron shuddered. "You'll give me nightmares."

"That's the least you deserve after all this complaining. Sometimes I swear, you couldn't last a day without expressing discontent about _something_," Hermione scolded him. "So come on, we're going to miss the train if you don't hurry up."

Not wanting to be hauled out of the common room by Hermione again, Ron quickly finished checking his reflection in the mirror and hurried out after the other two. They made their way down to the Entrance Hall, where most of the 6th years were waiting.

"Blaise!" Hermione called as she saw him, and went over to talk to him.

"Hey. What is she doing?" Ron's eyes narrowed as he watched them talk.

"Um, talking? Most normal teenagers do that," Harry answered.

"You know what I mean! I meant, why is she talking to a Slytherin on her own free will!"

Harry sighed melodramatically and patted Ron on the head. "You'll learn when you're older, Ronniekins."

"Don't call me — What? You've got to be kidding me!" Ron looked back over at Hermione. "No way would I allow it!"

"Since when where you her parents?"

"Even so, Hermione _can't_ like Zabini."

"Why's that?"

"Because — ! Er, well, I mean, come on, Harry!"

"Ron. Just chill. Hermione's old enough to think for herself. Heck, she could probably think for herself way before we could. So just drop it."

"What a friend you are."

"Oh, come on. Are you telling me you still like......" Harry stared at Ron as he flushed red, ".....her."

"Maybe....."

Harry let out a laugh. "Wow. I never would have thought it. I thought you gave up after she started dating Krum."

"Just leave me alone to die in peace, Harry," Ron muttered jokingly.

-------------------------------------

"And so, I was telling Ron to stop complaining," Hermione explained to Blaise, "about having to work with a Slytherin for Potions. I mean, come on? How childish can you get? And he's already what, sixteen?"

"You're telling me," Blaise muttered.

"And who might you be talking about, Blaise?" Draco asked, annoyed, as he came up to the couple.

"No one, Draco." Blaise smiled.

Hermione was about to respond when the caretaker, Filch, started to usher everyone out of the hall towards the train. Ron, dragging Harry by the wrist, came over and took Hermione's shoulder.

"Come on, Hermione," he said, glaring at the two Slytherins. "We should get going."

Hermione turned to look at Blaise and say sorry, but Ron was already pulling Hermione down the hall. Draco looked at Blaise and sighed, exasperated.

"Will he never give up?"

"Probably not," Blaise shrugged. "Well, let's go."

The two got onto the train, and since it was only the 6th years going, there were plenty of compartments to choose from. Draco picked one near the back, and Blaise followed him in.

"Man, it's so nice to be away from that brat," he mumbled, sitting down with his feet up on the opposite bench.

"You mean Pansy?" Blaise asked, sitting down near the door.

"Duh, Pansy. God, she's always fawning over me and getting in the way."

"I thought you liked her?"

"Naw. That's just because father wanted me to associate with the children of 'prominent member of society'." He paused. "Speaking of liking, what about you? You seem awfully fond of that Granger girl......."

Blaise blushed. "No, I don't. I just, you know, like to talk to someone who can string together a full sentence without either stuttering or just stopping midway."

"Ah. So, I suppose that would rule out an awful lot of Slytherins," Draco replied. "Either way, you'd better watch out. Weasley looks like he would kill someone if they ever got too close to the little mudblood."

"Don't call her a mud — Oh gods, I do like her, don't I?"

Draco shrugged. "You could always blame it on something you ate."

-------------------------------------

"Shouldn't you be over there with Malfoy?" Hermione asked Ron, pointing to the other side of the Apothecary where Malfoy was gazing uninterestedly at the shelves. "I don't think he's going to voluntarily get the ingredients."

"But — " Ron started, but stopped as Harry, Neville, who was partnered with Harry, Hermione, and Blaise, who was holding a list of potions items, glared at him. "Oh, fine. Just don't leave without me, kay?"

Hermione nodded and Ron grudgingly went over to where Draco was. "Okay. Hermione says we actually need to do something. So let's look for this stuff."

Draco sighed wearily, and pulled out the list they had made earlier in the library. "Here."

Ron took the parchment with a suspicious look at the Slytherin. "What's this? No rude remark about how you have to work with a Weasley, or comments on how stupid I am? Are you sick?"

Draco shot an angry glare at him. "No, I am not sick, Weasley. So, let's get on with it." He motioned to the sheet.

"Chill, okay. Um...... oh, here's the newt eggs." Ron indicated a container on the shelf. "Er, you want to measure them? I'm not so great at that."

Draco snorted and rolled his eyes, measuring out the right amount eggs. The bag sealed itself magically and Ron looked at the next item on the list.

"Beatles's eyes and lizard scales are in the same section," he observed, peering around the shop. "You can get that while I get the hedgehog heart and unicorn hair."

Nodding slightly, Draco went over to the opposite wall to fetch the right ingredients. Ron managed to get the heart and hair without causing any major damage. Ron was then fiddling with a small box of magical worms, thinking of some good pranks he could pull with them, when Draco's voice startled him.

"I saw my father earlier. In the Alley. I'm not too fond of him. That's why I didn't say anything when you came over."

Ron stared at him, wondering why on earth he was telling him this. "Okaaaaay......"

Draco shrugged. "Thought you wanted to know."

"Not just randomly when I'm trying to concentrate!"

"Whatever." Draco took the other packages from Ron and walked over to the register. On the way he grabbed a small box of thyme, and Ron followed silently, regarding Draco carefully. 'One second he's all bitchy, the next, he's answering personal questions, and then he's back to bitchy! God!'

As Draco purchased the items and also bought the wolfsbane that you could only get behind the counter, Ron thought about the Slytherin's behavior. Usually, he never showed his true feelings, preferring to abuse others and often be an annoying prick. But today, he hadn't blown up too many times at Ron. Was what he said today a _real_ remark, something truthful?

Ron finally shrugged away the thoughts he had and turned around to see if Draco was done with everything. At that same time, two noisy four-year-olds came gallivanting by, singing on the top of their lungs and crashing into Ron. He wobbled helplessly for a moment, before falling forward onto Draco and his armful of potions merchandise.

"Bloody — !" Ron sputtered as he knocked into Draco, who in turn fell backwards onto his back. Ron managed to stop his fall before his head bashed into Draco's, and sighed with relief. It was then that he realized that the two of them where in a very awkward position, Draco lying of the floor, Ron with his arms on either side of him, propping himself up, and his face just inches from Draco's. He froze for a moment, then seemed to come back to his senses and quickly leapt up.

"God, Weasley!" Draco exclaimed. "Can't keep your balance even if the people pushing you over are toddlers?! You are pathetic." He got up slowly, making sure his bag wasn't crushed.

The two were gathering quite a crowd as Ron yelled back. "Well, if you hadn't, hadn't taken so long, I wouldn't have zoned out!"

"Now you're blaming me for what you do with your spare time? Geez, it was only two freaking minutes."

Harry and the others had made their way over to them now, and were trying to calm down the two boys.

"It's alright Ron. It's not entirely your fault," Hermione said soothingly, patting him on the shoulder.

"Yeah," Blaise added. "Don't be so mad, Draco. It's not like anything got broken, did it?"

"No," Draco grumbled, not looking Blaise in the face.

"I think you should apologize," Hermione and Blaise said simultaneously, then glanced at each other in surprise.

Draco and Ron made faces.

"No way."

"It's his fault!"

Blaise glared at the two of them, something he didn't do very often, and Draco finally gave in.

"Hmph. Even though it's your fault, I'm sorry," he muttered.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "Though, it's not my fault."

"Agh!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "You know what, just forget it. If you're done, Malfoy, I think we'll take Ron outside to hang out before we leave."

"Alright," Draco said. "I'll hold on to these things, then. So Weasley doesn't ruin them."

Ron looked like he was about to respond to that, but Hermione looked at him threateningly, and the three of them plus Neville exited the shop.

"This has been a pleasant trip today, hm?" Blaise smiled, looking at Draco.

"Bite me."

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**Mwaha! It's Ron's worst nightmare! Shopping with Malfoy! Laladeedeelada. Teehee**. **You happy? I speeded things up. Not much, but a bit. Lol**

**Okay, so Draco's a little OOC because he dislikes Pansy, but hey, after like, five years of her obsessing over him, you can at least see why he wouldn't like her.**

**I've always wondered that, how you bought potions ingredients specifically for something not from school...... Oops. Need to sleep. Midnight again. I have school tomorrow, darn it.**


End file.
